"Ms. Lydia?" As if sensing the silence, Ace took the initiative to speak.
"To Aretuza?"
The voice of telepathy sounded directly in Ace's heart. There was no ups and downs in that voice, and no emotion could be heard.
Ace nodded.
"You are not young anymore and you are behind others. You should study more."
Lydia continued, and Ace continued to nod obediently, accepting Lydia's teachings calmly.
"Ma'am is right." Ace said, "Then I'll go practice magic now. I want to master the portal first."
Leaving aside the forbidden magic such as fire magic and necromancy, after these days of study, Ace has the highest affinity with the magic of "air" among the mainstream earth, water, air, and ether spells.
Besides, Ace also has a special liking for portals. This is not surprising, as people who come from warrior backgrounds are fond of portals, and Vigfortz is no exception.
Lydia raised her chin slightly and watched Ace bow politely to her.
Before he left, she suddenly said, "Wait."
Ace turned around in confusion.
"Ask me questions next time, and don't go to Aretuza too often."
Ace touched the notebook in his arms. It was obvious that Lydia had just seen the academic exchange between him and the female student.
"These are all very simple questions. I don't want to waste your time. I will only bother you with questions that you can't solve. After all, your time should be spent on more advanced magic research and exquisite paintings, not these boring questions."
Ace lowered his head, seeming a little ashamed that he would be troubled by such superficial questions.
In fact, most of the questions Ace wrote in his notebook were ones he already knew. He just wanted another excuse to communicate with the female students.
For some people, only when they help others solve their problems can they feel at ease asking them questions again.
Anyway, "asking simple questions about magic" is also consistent with his image as someone who has just started learning magic. According to the Earl, this is called "consistent with the character setting."
In response to Ace's explanation, Lydia said, "The more time you spend worrying about yourself, the sooner you can return to Cintra."
Ace agreed verbally, thinking that he would dare to do it next time.
After he left, Lydia stood there in a daze for a while, and then she sat back in front of the drawing board.
She touched the black agate silk headband she had carefully selected today with her left hand, and looked at the wounds on her painting hands.
Lydia communicated with others entirely through mind magic, and she would never mutter to herself when she was alone. But at this moment, it was as if a mouth had replaced her throat, allowing a voice to echo repeatedly in her body.
"My...time."
…
On the other side of the world, Kel Siren.
Seeing that Ace's level in the follower panel had jumped up again, Lan's expression became slightly out of control.
What has this kid been doing in Aretusa? Is he working so hard?
He took House and Milva everywhere with him, fighting water monsters or clearing out bandits when he had nothing to do, and also doing some small side quests in between; Ace was just studying in the magic academy, how come he was leveling up faster than the other two combined?
Should I try to get Triss to deliver a message to him so that he doesn't have to work so hard...
Lann made up his mind that Ace was his important subordinate and he should give him proper condolences.
His mind turned back to the system panel. Regarding the newly acquired skill points, Lan thought about it and decided not to use them on Leo for the time being. He contracted him as a [Follower].
First of all, it is hard to say whether a purple card-level character has talent, and Leo is still young and probably hasn’t mastered any skills. Paying this follower point may not bring him real-time benefits like Milva and the others.
Secondly, Leo will be training in Kel Siren later, and he won't be able to give me any experience feedback. It's better to wait until he comes down the mountain. After all, the title of "Gift of the Lion" is very suitable as a gift for his departure.
Moreover, Lann had another expectation. If Leo failed in the subsequent demon hunter mutation, he might be able to use the ability of this [Follower] system panel to pull Leo back from the brink of death like Black Wind did in the past.
Leo's trial will still take some time, so I just need to save up enough skill points before then.
In the end, Lann chose to open a new seal skill - a branch of [Quen's Seal], [Explosive Shield].
[Burst Shield]: When Quen's shield breaks, it will knock back the enemy and inflict fixed damage. There is a chance to knock down the enemy. (2/3)
After the Ancient Blood's [Magic Tide] skill bonus, [Explosive Shield] was also directly upgraded to level 2. This skill is equivalent to turning the Quen Seal from a simple defensive light film into a small anti-armor with a repulsive effect.
This change has a huge tactical effect. If Quinn encounters an enemy with multiple attacks, he can only defend against the opponent's first attack. The second and third attacks depend entirely on whether the seal releaser can seize the precious opportunity and react.
Now, enemies with multiple attacks will be forced to be knocked back after breaking the Quen Seal, and the knockback effect is 360 degrees centered on the person who releases the seal. This can buy more reaction time for the person who releases the seal, and even enough time for him to think about what kind of counterattack posture would be cooler.
If you can knock down the opponent, you will even have enough time to say a few trash words and taunt him, and then apply a new layer of [Quen's Seal].
After adding skills, Lann began to summarize what he had gained during this period:
This trip to Temeria was full of twists and turns. When Lann and King Foltest broke down in their talks, he thought he would lose Temeria's support. After all, in the original book, although Temeria was one of the countries that saw through the threat of Nilfgaard, its attitude towards Cintra was not friendly.
Unexpectedly, by chance, I established a friendly relationship with Princess Yada.
He gained politically and grew in personal strength: he recruited a future demon hunter Leo, completed a side quest, and won a demon hunting mission without any effort; thanks to Ace's efforts, he has now been promoted to a higher level.
Now Lann's attribute table has become as follows:
[Name: Lann Lannister Rhaanron
Gender: Male
Race: Demon Hunter
Level: 23
Talents: Ancient Blood (partially awakened), Sharpshooter, Magic Aura
Experience value: 12/2000
HP: 2370/2370
Mana: 3200/3200
Inventory: Slightly
Skills: Muscle Memory (5/5), Precision Blow (5/5), Strength Training (5/5), Immovable (5/5), Undead (1/5), Whirling Sword Dance (1/5), Rage Burst (1/5), Patience Improvement (5/5), Explosive Shield (2/3), Charm (2/3), Survival Instinct, Metabolic Control, Gourmet, Griffin School Skills, Rage Control, Magic Sense, Poison Blood, Death Strike, Magic Tide
Followers: Black Wind, Milva, Ace, House
Missions: Hear Me Roar, Part 1, Heart of Stone, Part 1]
The next stop is to Redania to visit the King of Redania, Vizimir II, who is now known as "The Fair".
This king who once engaged his son to Ciri but eventually broke off the engagement was one of the few kings in the original novel who could recognize the situation in the North while maintaining a certain degree of goodwill towards Cintra.
At least he didn't want to use the remnants of Cintra as cannon fodder like Foltest did.
Although it is not known whether Vizimir II's kindness comes from a conscience that is rare in this era or purely political considerations, this is what Lann urgently needs now.
I hope that the trip to Redania will go smoothly. But I hope that we don't manage to deal with the difficult Temeria, and then Redania, which is a possible ally, ends up with an accident. This kind of plot is too exaggerated in the novel.
At the same time, there is another person waiting for him in Redania...
Lann looked at the quest item in his [Inventory] with the note [Mirror Master's Mirror].
After that, I was busy.